- skip down to HOW TO if you already Tabata

In 1996, a team of physiology researchers found a pattern of work-and-rest stimulus that causes the body to respond with adaptations which include aerobic capacity, muscular strength and stamina, and neuromuscular efficiency for the associated movements. One of the researchers’ names is Izumi Tabata, and the (two, actually) patterns of work have since been called the Tabata protocols.

The outstanding truth about the Tabata protocol is in the results: the optimal work-rest pattern produces capacities better than any other exercise approach, and it does so in a shockingly small and simple pattern of work-rest intervals.

This work set consists of 6-8 intervals of 20 seconds high-intensity work, 10 seconds rest. Thus, 8 intervals can be completed in 3 minutes and 50 seconds. If it sounds too easy and you’re getting your skepticism dander fluffed up, wait a sec; note the words ‘high intensity’. The secret sauce is in the level of effort. What we’re looking for is 100%. People who are initially skeptical usually drop their resistance after sampling a full dose of Tabata, reeling from the potency.

The most popular tabatas are the simplest ones: squats, push-ups, pull-ups. (View this video of tabata squats performed.)

The difficulty in performing Tabatas is following the timer: work for exactly 20 seconds, rest for exactly 10 seconds, then repeat. Since you’re keeping score (and soon score will be very important to you) you want to be able to get the timing just right. For this reason tools like this Tabata timer have been developed (download and use from your computer or even your mobile phone!).

You already know how I feel about running and speed. You shouldn’t be surprised that Tabata Sprints is one of my most beloved stimuli. But combining the Tabata timing protocol with running can be difficult; so most people resort to Treadmills, which have substantial disadvantages for executing 100% sprints on short stop-and-go intervals. Hence the following how-to guidance.

(If you want to do it on the treadmill, groovy. I’ve heard of people washing their hair in toilets, smuggling hamsters in their own home, and voluntarily refusing to eat meat. Treadmills don’t really surprise me, though they do sorta gross me out. Tell yourself this is all tongue-in-cheek if it makes you like me more.)

How To Tabata Sprint

The method I lay out below will get you past the logistical obstacles to a purist’s Tabata Sprints (outdoor, real sprinting. After you’ve tried it this way, you won’t want to go back to drinking watered-down rice gruel.)

WHAT YOU NEED: a partner with a whistle or very loud voice, who can operate a timer; up to 8 coins, pebbles or bean bags that you can carry in your hands while sprinting; a stretch of up to 150 meters for running, and a way to measure distances (my low-tech method here).

HOW TO

1. Measure out a straight line of running track, probably about 140-150 meters long.
2. Put your partner with the timer and whistle in the middle.
3. Walk to the end or start of your running track, about 70-75 meters from your partner, and place your starting marker. Start from that point.

Your partner signals go; and stop, at 20 seconds — he needs to be loud enough that you hear him during your sprint. You sprint, and when you hear the stop signal, instantly drop one marker. Wait your 10 second rest, and begin from your dropped marker, running back towards your starting position marker. Again, at 20 seconds, drop your next marker. Again, after 10 seconds rest, begin from that marker running back in the opposite direction. Repeat until 6-8 sprints are completed.

TALLY TIME
When you finish, cool down by pacing back and forth between your markers, measuring the distance of each sprint by going from longest to shorter to shortest distances. These are your scores. They might look something like this:
140m - 128m - 112m - 105m - 106m - 104m

THE END.

NOT ALL GET-FIT-QUICK METHODS WORK EQUALLY WELL.

My corrective guidance on running begins thus: beyond the most elementary conditioning, endurance running is counterproductive. By ‘beyond elementary conditioning,’ I mean after an untrained non-athlete has developed the ability to run one mile / 1600 meters in less than nine minutes for men, less than ten minutes for women.

Once this basic level of running ability and confidence has been achieved, anyone who aims to use running as a fitness mode should replace jogging or distance running with sprinting.

The vast majority of people hate running, but want the results of greater aerobic capacity, higher metabolic rate (fat burning), and a sexy body. If this describes your attitude towards running, the following wisdom will be bittersweet. The bad news first: you have to work harder. The good news is, you need to spend a lot less time running. The really good news — you can achieve all the benefits of traditional running and a whole lot more with less running, less time, and more enjoyment.

(A less appreciated ancillary benefit — your running will be more purposeful, more intense, require more concentration, all of which makes it more involving. The ‘performance metrics’ (how you measure your progress or ability) also are more fun, and the rewards will be quicker: it’s much easier to measure your progress on a 400 meter run than on a 10K or 1/2 marathon, you can repeat it more quickly, and with less training- and life- schedule accommodation.)

Once You Can Crawl, Do This

If you are considering or already have a traditional running regimen, drop it and replace it with shorter workouts like the following three examples:

1. 4 x 400 meter sprints with 2-4 minutes rest between each
2. 4 x 800 meter sprints with 4-6 minutes rest between each
3. Tabata sprints, which will very closely resemble the “windsprints” you may have used in sports training.

When you’re ready for more variety, training in 100 meter and 200 meter sprints will develop yet more explosive power and add new metrics to test yourself on — which itself is engaging. Sprinting power is what you need for self-defense purposes and responding to emergencies, and what all women should definitely be training. Workouts like Pandora and Aphrodite are examples of whole-body workouts based on 50 meter sprints.

Finally, every few-to-several weeks you can run a 5k or 10k to demonstrate the strength you’ve developed with your more intensive running training; and prove to yourself that working harder but shorter actually has made you fitter, and faster at longer distances. You will only be confirming what has already been proven in research and by tens of thousands of athletes who have embraced the virtues of intensity and power (power = work / time).

Behold, running enlightenment:

1. The 1996 research that demonstrated greater endurance gains resulting from intensive, anaerobic sprints, yielding the Tabata protocol
2. A more accessible secondary source which explains how the new insight overturns the conventional wisdom. Bass quotes the exercise physiology texts that codified the old dogma, which frames the contrast nicely.
3. Journal of Physiology, January 2008, study showing sprinting yields physiological adaptations of endurance training at significantly less volume of work
4. Journal of Applied Physiology, 1999, study shows experienced endurance athletes improved their performance by adding explosive sprinting; also shows irrelevance of V02 metric to performance
5. Enlightened endurance training: Brian MacKenzie of CrossFitEndurance.com, went from being an ultramarathoner, to a CrossFitter, to a CrossFitter who significantly improved his performance in the world’s most difficult ultramarathons while reducing his training volume to only 5.3 hours per week — using CrossFit
6. A good article by Mark Sisson / Mark’s Daily Apple commanding much of the wisdom against traditional ‘cardio’ training; I especially recommend his recap of costs and benefits at the bottom
7. This wisdom is going mainstream: a great introductory summary in SportsMedicine.About.com
8. Finally, Art DeVany doesn’t pull punches. He tells you flat out that marathoning is destructive, and he can back it up. This is one of his earliest and most inflammatory pieces; but he has an entire category devoted to recording the detriments of the traditional endurance approach.

For months I’ve jumped mid-stream into discussions of intermittent fasting. Recently I’ve wondered how to introduce it to, for example, poor innocent geek friends of mine who haven’t heard of it before. Hopefully I’ll return and pick up my own spin on the intro thread soon. For now, here’s one of the most popular introductions to IF, a.k.a. Intermittent Fasting by Dr. Michael Eades, a leading popularizer of IF.

There is a way to reduce blood sugar, improve insulin sensitivity, reduce blood pressure, increase HDL levels, get rid of diabetes, live a lot longer, and still be able to lose a little weight. All without giving up the foods you love. And without having to eat those foods in tiny amounts. Sounds like a late-night infomercial gimmick, but it isn’t.

Before I get to the real nitty gritty of how such a thing can be done, let’s look at a method that has been proven in countless research institutions to bring about all the above-mentioned good things. It’s called caloric restriction.

When researchers restrict the caloric intake of a group of lab animals to about 30 to 40 percent of that of their ad libitum (all they want to eat) fed counterparts, they find that the calorically restricted animals live 30 percent or so longer, don’t develop cancers, diabetes, heart disease, or obesity. These calorically restricted (CR) animals have low blood sugar levels, low insulin levels, good insulin sensitivity, low blood pressure and are, in general, much healthier than the ad lib fed animals.

…

Caloric restriction is a terrific way to lose weight and get healthy; problem is, it’s not much fun. When rats live out their little ratty lives calorically restricted in their cages they seem to show signs of depression and irritability. Primates do for sure. If primates don’t get enough cholesterol, they can actually become violent. But, if you’re willing to put up with a little irritability, hostility and depression, it might be worth cutting your calories by 30 percent for the rest of your long, healthy miserable life.

Doesn’t sound so cheery? You’re not ready to sign up yet?

Well, there is a better way.

A number of different research teams have studied a method by which rodents can get all the health and longevity benefits of caloric restriction without calorically restricting. And the method has been studied in humans and seems to achieve the same health benefits and, if an old Spanish study can be believed, maybe even an increase in lifespan.

What is this magic method? intermittent fasting.

Read the whole article here: http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/2006/09/13/fast-way-to-better-health

If you’re working alone, it’s difficult to watch the time for yourself. So download this tabata timer and set it to give you 5-second intervals, which will let you time the length of your handstands.

So far, Valhalla CrossFit has only been offering workouts for beginners. The two-minute version of this workout is extremely difficult!. Unless you’re a handstand-dancing monster AND feeling especially frisky, please use “120 seconds” or “180 seconds” for the workouts below.

#1: 300 seconds

Hold a handstand against the wall for 300 seconds.
Every time you ‘come down’, do 50 squats before you kick back up into the handstand.

Like any ‘for time’ WOD, you’re trying to get this done as quickly as possible. The 300-second-countdown only runs while you’re in your handstand!
Report total time and total number of squats to comments.

#2: Frown Upside Down

300 seconds handstand.
30 push-ups every time you fall.

Someone in the middle east loves you. Maybe.
Report total time and total number of push-ups to comments.

#3. Sunny Side Up

300 seconds handstand.
50 sit-ups every time you fall.

Report time and number of sit-ups to comments.

Some personal history.

A trainer once told me, “Ok! One more, Last one!” and he was lying. I still carry the baggage of this trauma, the emotional scars of his duplicity and betrayal. I think of him when I’m making these workouts up for you, then I look at myself in the mirror, turn off the lights, shine a flashlight up my nose from under my chin and laugh until I hear the neighbors’ children crying.

I’ll put more exposition for this workout in the comments.

Some people say, “find a safe place to do your handstands.” Those same people are the ones you hear using their cell phones in public bathroom stalls. Because I listen to them doesn’t mean I have to listen to them. They’re not the boss of me! And they’re not the boss of you either.

5 rounds,

• 10 meters of beck’s burpees*
• 10 meters of walking lunges
• 10 meters of bear crawl

For Time.

*Beck’s burpees: like a normal burpee, but instead of jumping straight up, you jump forward — as far as you can. It’s a burpee with a standing broadjump. If you manage to jump one meter on average, you can cover the 10 meters in only 10 burpees. It’s more likely it will take you ~20 beck’s burpees to cover that distance.

This explanation of diabetes and insulin therapy covers the basics of a Diabetic’s How To:

1. Establishing a basal rate of insulin
2. Establishing a ratio of insulin-to-carbohydrate
3. Learning to judge carbohydrate content of food and the effect of what you eat on your blood sugar
4. Learning to correct high blood sugar with a bolus of insulin

Valhalla CrossFit: Diabetes 101

The above page is a long article (3,000 words, about 5 pages). It includes brief explanations of:

• blood sugar and insulin
• the two types of insulin, long- and fast-acting
• how a diabetic establishes a basal rate of long-acting insulin
• how a diabetic decides how much insulin to take for food: the official, theoretical model, and the actual practice of experienced diabetics
• how corrective boluses work
• insulin injections versus the insulin pump
• hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia
• fitness and nutrition for the diabetic

For the non-diabetic, this article is a sound, informative explanation of how a diabetic must survive, cope with his disease and manage his insulin. The more informative ‘under the hood’, nuts-and-bolts view is extremely helpful for type 1 diabetics’ loved ones, coaches or trainers, significant others, or just well-informed and caring friends.

The two workouts are evil twin sisters, anyway.

You COULD do the full 10-round version. The question is: how much will you be “pacing” yourself? I.e, holding back from 100% exertion because you know you have to last for 10 rounds?

Choose the version that enables you to give enough intensity to make this a significant emotional event… and reap the benefit of truly explosive sprinting.

These simple, straightforward, hardcore workouts — back to basics, and intense. Enjoy, and remember to thank me.

Being intimidated is unjustified: CrossFitters include many people who could not do a pull-up when they began. The pull-up is easily teachable and achievable — you can begin right here, right now.

The following will give you a schedule consisting of 2 routines which you will use 4 or 5 days a week, and 2 workouts which you will do 3-4 times a week.

A week’s schedule might look like this:

Below you will learn the exercises and workouts you’ll use to develop your pull-up; but first, you need some equipment.

1. Equipment
   Pull-up bar! Your feet should not touch the ground when you hang from your pull-up bar. (7′6″ or 8′0″ are good heights for a bar.)

   You also need at least two other pieces of equipment:

   1. a jumpbox or chair on which you can stand. Standing on a chair, bench or jumpbox, you should be able to hold the pull-up bar with a slight bend in your elbows.
   2. a “low bar” about 30-36″ off the ground that will support your bodyweight. Best method: hang a broomstick, or two rings, from your pull-up bar. The edge of a table or desk, perhaps even a broomstick, bar or pipe supported by furniture may do the trick. If you’re in a commercial gym… this is one of only two legitimate uses for a Smith Machine! (The other is: handstand push-ups)
2. Assistance
   If you can’t do a pull-up, you need to be able to complete the motion somehow Somehow means with assistance:
   1. jumping pull-up: while standing on the chair, bench or box, you jump your chin up above the bar and lower yourself down, controlling your descent with your arms (this controlled descent is called the “negative” or “eccentric” portion of the movement.)
   2. gravitron or machine-assist: A wonderful tool, you can set the exact amount of assistance (in increments of 5 pounds). A kneepad or foot bars will push up against you, helping you with the motion. You can even incorporate a kipping motion with a gravitron, which you’ll soon learn.
   3. assistance bands: these are big rubber bands, either hung from the pull-up bar or stretched horizontally below the pull-up bars at about knee-level.
   4. partner assist: your partner can hold your ankles from behind and help you complete the pull-up movement. Strongly recommended if you have an attentive partner, strongly discouraged if your partner can’t figure out when he needs to let go of your ankles and let you dismount gracefully.
3. Exercises
   • Body rows or ring rows - hang your body below the low bar (or rings, or table’s edge, 30-36″ from the ground). Your feet rest on the ground or on a slightly elevated support like a step or bench. Pull your chest up to the bar / rings and lower back down. Aim for the greatest range-of-motion you can achieve.

   

   • Swings - the kipping pull-up begins from a swing: your torso moves backward and forward, while your feet stay in place below the bar. At the front and back of your swing, your body should look like these parentheses: ) and (
   • Jumping pull-ups - described above in Assistance. You can do A LOT of these. But those negatives — those eccentric contractions, as you’re controlling your descents — can really make your arms sore!
   • Assisted pull-ups - especially when assisted by a partner, these can very closely shadow your maximum effort to do a pull-up, giving you just enough help to complete the motion. A partner can make your pull-ups more productive and more satisfying.
   • Knees-to-chest - hanging from a pull-up bar, lift your knees up towards your chest, allowing your legs to bend. Return to fully open hang position.
   • L-sit - hanging from a pull-up bar, lift your straightened legs in front of you until you are ‘piked’ 90-degrees at the hips, your legs horizontal to the ground and held rigidly, straight in front of you. Do not swing. If you can’t get it, bend your knees. Progress towards straightening your legs.

   

4. Daily Routines
   • Grease-the-Groove, or GTG. This is a method: it means stopping a few times throughout the day to do several repetitions of an exercise, in an attempt to increase the number of reps one can do.
     1. Routine 1: jPU: Everyday, grease the groove with jumping pull-ups, descending slowly (emphasizing the negative). Aim for 5-7 sets of ~5 reps each over the course of the day.
     2. Routine 2: assisted PU: Exactly the same as routine 1, but use assisted pull-ups instead of jumping pull-ups
5. Workouts
   • Workout 1: Body Rows & Knees-to-Chest

     3 rounds, 12-9-6

     • body rows
     • knees-to-chest

     For time.

     If your time gets better than 3:15, increase reps to 15-12-9. :-)
     Workout 2: L-swing-jump
     

     5 rounds of

     • 5 L-sits
     • 10 swings
     • 15 jumping pull-ups

     For time.

     (substitute knees-to-chest if L-sits are too difficult)

6. Variables
   Grip: you can use any grip you like, but the overhand, “pull-up” grip will enable you to swing, which will pay off down the road. Importantly — you can and should switch between grips. There are four total grips you might use on a normal pull-up bar — both hands under, both hands over, and mixed (left-under, right-over or left-over, right-under, which gives you two more variants).

The above routines and workouts will not only develop your ability to do a pull-up, but will develop the skills, strength and confidence to achieve kipping pull-ups. Kipping pull-ups can actually develop your ability to do deadhang, strict pull-ups faster than if you were working only on strict pull-ups all the time.

This is because kipping pull-ups generate more power, and power — work per unit of time — is the secret sauce of effective physical training; it is what stimulates neuroendocrine response, getting you a greater return in strength than any similar but slower effort.

Please, tell me about your progress in developing pull-ups, I love to hear about it, especially including the details of what was the most difficult part for you, how it felt, what obstacles you encountered, and what you think made your success possible.

Go get some.

• 30 slalom jumps
• 30 sit-ups
• 30 supermans

For Time.

Supermans (laying on stomach, arch your back to raise your chest off the floor) can be substituted with back extensions on a roman chair or swiss ball (with feet anchored somehow), or with Good Mornings.

For an easier version, scale to 20 reps of each exercise, but remain at 3 sets.

Notice that these No-Equipment-Necessary (NEN) workouts can be performed anywhere, even while traveling.

N.B. MetCon: On the slalom jumps, if I do NOT use a parallette to jump over (a pvc pipe suspended horizontally about 13″ high), I go slower and I think I’m jumping higher. With a parallette, I can do 30 slalom jumps in 17 seconds. The muscular impact is significantly less than running 100 meters. If I pursued slalom jumps as a training tool for myself, I would jump higher, wider, and do more reps. Don’t be easy on yourself. Go hard. Find a suitcase or ottoman and try to approach the impact of running a 200-300 meter run, perhaps 45-60 seconds of work, after which you’re struggling to breathe in your sit-ups.

5 push-ups
10 sit-ups
15 squats

Report total number of rounds completed.